SABINE HERRMANN

Like some emotions, Sabine Herrmann’s paintings are difficult to describe with words. In a unique way, they elude any explanation; something that cannot be spoken always remains, an a priori that we cannot grasp rationally or express verbally. However, beholders are not left in a vacuum: they can take recourse to their imagination and follow the artist’s interpretative approaches through the titles that emerge when she ponders her own works.

Colour, gestural expression, and transparency are the pillars of Herrmann’s work. She uses pigments, dissolved in water with acrylic paints, a liquid material that she superimposes in transparent layers. What lies under the most recently applied layer of paint always remains visible. She paints freely and expressively with a broad brush, often without the desire to represent anything. Detached from any preconceived plan, she allows the paint to flow. The composition arises from the current situation and cannot be repeated—comparable to the irrecoverable moment that a photograph can capture. However, there are also works where a vis-à-vis appears, a painted or drawn human figure, blurry or vague like an image from a dream.

The work outside the realm of words is complemented by pure word images. Sabine Herrmann writes down by hand words without any recognisable order, seemingly spontaneously, one on top of the other on paper. These are the names of women artists; in this way, she reminds herself and others of these women. Unfortunately, female artists have not been held in the same esteem as their male counterparts. Their work was underestimated and received less visibility. Fortunately, this is gradually changing. Sabine Herrmann herself was also affected by this.